Where is Home?
by UberStoryteller
Summary: A new world. A world not plagued by monsters and vampires but something they had never seen. With no allies, No way back, and enemies all around them, they must learn how to survive in this harsh land. And whether which land is truly a place they belong.
1. Where are we?

Prologue

_Thoughts_

"Speech"

It wasn't much to look at. Just a run down house with a couple of fields that were once tended by multiple hands but had now been overtaken by the vegetation. A primitive forest now surrounded the entire area with only one dirt path that lead to it all. But it was not what was outside that mattered but what was inside that interested the five figures driving up to it.

"So this is the house Guren sent us" A tall, pink haired boy observed "It doesn't look like much"

A super short, purple girl snickered"You're not much to look at either Kimizuki"

At that comment, the other three members burst into laughter while Kimizuki could only sit on the driver's seat, unable to even strike back.

"That's one more for Shinoa and another zero for Kimizuki" Mitsuba counted

"Why are you counting?" Yoichi asked

"It's always good to keep count of anything" Mitsuba responded with a devious look on her face

"All right, we're here! everybody get out" Shinoa brightly said

Kimizuki pulled the car into a slow stop and everyone got out of the car to observe the house and the surrounding fields.

"There's not a lot of cover here" Yoichi notices "That's a problem for me"

"Don't worry, it's just a quick in and out mission" Yuichiro reassured "I doubt the vampires would even knew what's in here"

"Well we don't know what's in here either so at least be a little careful" Shinoa warned

"And don't slack off like last time" Kimizuki added in

"It's not my fault you can't wake up properly" Yuichiro rebuked

"And who was it that was supposed to keep watch?" Shinoa asked with a sly smile

"I was watching for Horseman, not wild animals!"

"So you really don't have anything else in that brain of yours" Shinoa exclaimed with exaggeration

"I never expected it to be that bad" Mitsuba observed

Yuichiro's face turned bright red at the comments "Shut up"

Kimizuki couldn't resist to add in one more jab "What was that? I don't think I caught that. Just like how you didn't catch that fox"

"Alright thats it! Get your ass over here pinky!"

The two boys began to brawl fight on the field while the other three members of the squad just continued to walk towards the barn. The door to the house was completely rotten and there was an unknown language on the remains of the sign that barely hung on the door.

"Looks like someone hasn't been here since the catastrophe" Mitsuba observed "There are no clothes or old remains at all"

"That seems a bit strange." Shinoa muttered

"Why?" Yoichi asked

Shinoa didn't respond but instead opened the door and entered the crumbling building cautiously. There was not much inside the barn to note. There was just hay on the ground and the roof had many holes in it, shining down rays of light, revealing a small circle and some mysterious symbols surrounding the circle.

"You know what they mean, Shinoa?" Mitsuba asked

"No, I've never seen anything like this before" Shinoa was actually slightly unnerved on the inside.

_This looks... Odd_

_Shi-kun, Do you know what this is?_

_I'm not sure. It looks familiar but there's…. Something off about it_

_Thank you for the helpful advice._

_You could always let me in. I can get a better sense of the energy around it_

_Nice try but that's if you can get past my walls_

"Shinoa?"

Shinoa was brought back to reality by the voice of Yoichi and realized she had been standing there with her eyes closed.

"Yeah, sorry about that"

"What happen? You just stood there" Yoichi questioned

"It's nothing, I thought they looked familiar but it's nothing" Yoichi opened his mouth to speak again but Shinoa spoke first "Mitsu, are they still outside?"

The blond girl took a quick look back at the two boys who were still brawling "Yeah"

"Perfect" The short girl skipped out the door and started to make her way towards the two on the fields

"This is going to be entertaining" Mitsuba said

"Should we start setting up camp?" Yoichi asked

"Nah, They can set it up for me. I'm too tired"

Mitsuba immediately yawned after saying that and begun to drift while Yoichi continued examining the mysterious symbols and circle. Outside, both of the boys were holding each other by the collar with one hand while the other was pulled back into a fist and their mouths were still insulting each other

"Dumbass!"

"4 eyes!"

_Now this looks like a job for me_

"So have you boys figured it out or do you need me to step in?"

"Shut up Shorty!" They yelled at the same time. When they realized what they had just said, Shinoa had taken out her scythe and, despite her smile, was not happy in the slightest.

"Uh Sh-Shinoa, Y-You know we meant none of that. R-Right?" Yuichiro weakly stuttered out.

After the severe beat down that the two boys got, the three of them walked back into the barn and set up their own individual beds while Kimizuki began cooking some unknown meat. The smell of food woke up Mitsuba who was delighted to see the food cooking and took a seat around the fire Yoichi had set up. They ate in silence, taking in the fresh breeze and the sounds of wildlife as they scurried around in the dark in peace, not needing to worry about this new world where you could be killed in an instance if you were not on guard.

"You know, with a little touch up, We could live here" Yuichiro suddenly said

"What?"

"I was just thinking that this would be a good place to live"

"Kimizuki must have hit your brain too hard" Mitsuba said

"You don't even know how to farm" Kimizuki chided

"We can always try" Yuichiro said

"I don't think so cherry boy" Shinoa teased

"Can you stop calling me that name"

"What does that mean?" Yoichi innocently asked

"Ah it means-" Shinoa was cut off when her mouth was covered by Yuichiro's hand

"Nothing at all" Yuu loudly proclaimed while his face turned bright red again. Shinoa just smiled and turned her head away from him.

As the sun went down, so did the conversation and the squad started to disperse and began to sleep. Eventually, it was only Shinoa and Yuichiro still awake by the fire.

"Why do you think Guren sent us here?" Yuu suddenly asked

"Hm?"

"I don't see what's so useful here other than the symbols we found and we don't even know what they mean"

"You mean you don't know" Shinoa teased

"Do you know?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't" Shinoa said with a mysterious voice

"Ah I give up with you" Yuu said with a defeated tone "I'm going to sleep so can you keep watch?"

"How cruel, making a girl keep watch by herself. Especially one as good looking as myself"

"Do you want me to keep watch with you then?"

"Any boy would want to spend the night with such a beautiful girl as myself" Shinoa proudly said and then leaned in closer to Yuu "Do you not want to?"

Yuu's face turned slightly red and he quickly looked away

_So easy to tease_

Then Yuu did something unexpected. He walked over to where Shinoa was sitting and sat right beside her and snuggled her in his blanket.

"Wha-What are you doing?!" Shinoa squeaked out

"You said it would be cruel to spend the night alone, right?" Yuu said "Just wake me up if anything bad happens"

Yuu put his head back and almost immediately began quietly snoring, his black hair falling onto his eyes as his body relaxed and his innocent face softly breathed. Shinoa began blushing harder when she began to realize the more finer details of his face and her heartbeat went faster when she placed her hand on her chest.

_No, stay focused!_

She tried but eventually she put her head on Yuu's chest and accidentaly began to fall asleep to the rhythm of Yuu's heartbeats, unaware of the eyes that were looking at them from the forest.

**11:30**

* * *

(The forest)

_Yuu? Why are you here?!_

Mikaela was not happy seeing Yuu here. The mission itself was supposed to be a quick one. Investigate the remains of an unknown experiment conducted by the humans and take whatever was needed back to the capitol

"Hey, Keep your eyes up"

"Just ignore him. He's like that"

The voices belonged to Bakul and Larus, 2 vampire that had been sent by Ferid to accompany him on this mission. However, Mika knew that Bakul and Larus were here for some other reason other than just investigating some old remains.

_He's going to either leave me behind or betray me. _

_no , dosen't matter right now. I've got to get Yuu out of those humans hands_

Mika began to slowly position himself away from Bakul and Larus, who was still watching the humans inside the barn rest. He positioned himself to have the barn entrance on the opposite side while Bakul and Larus were to his right. He could still see Yuu through the holes in the walls but it wasn't Yui that had his attention.

_What is that?_

There were more symbols on the wall but there were burns on them and some sort of weird stain that made Mika want to go throw up but also drink blood as well.

_Why? How can something even smell bad and make me so thirsty at the same time?!_

_Is it the symbols? And how did I not smell it until now?_

Mika's thoughts were interrupted as a flash of movement to his right drew his attention away from the strange smell and symbols. He turned his head to see Bakul running into the barn with his sword in his hand and bloodlust in his eyes with Larus running right behind him.

_Damn it! They're moving ahead of time! They can't get to Yui first!_

Mika jumped up to the roof of the barn and stood as the two vampires rushed in, waiting for his chance to take him away

**11:50**

(Inside the barn)

_Wake up, idiot! They're coming!_

Yuichiro woke up immediately and brought Shinoa down onto the ground with him. Right after he did that, A blast of old wood woke up the other members and Mitsuba and Kimizuki were thrown into the fields outside while Yoichi was thrown against the wall behind him.

"Whats going on!?" Shinoa yelled

"Blood suckers!"

Yuichiro took out Asuramaru while Shinoa took out her own weapon. He heard a moan behind him and turned to see Yoichi wounded and was on the ground. There was suddenly a great clang beside him and he saw Shinoa fighting against the vampire.

"Better than I thought you were" The vampire snarled

_Damn it! Where were they and when they get so close?!_

_That's your fault! Learn to pay attention_ Asura lectured

Yuichiro ignored him and rushed to help Shinoa, who was struggling to defend against the vampire as he pushed harder and harder on the girl. He swung his sword and the vampire was forced to jump back and release his lock with her.

"This is not good. They caught us completely off guard" Shinoa noted

"We still got this" Yuichiro confidently said

"Wait-"Shinoa was cut off when he rushed towards the vampire ahead of him, sword in hand and began fighting him.

"Idiot!"

Shinoa turned to look at how Kimizuki and Mitsuba were doing. Kimizuki was defending against the other vampire attacking them while Mitsuba covered his attacks whenever

"Uhhh…" Shinoa immediately went to Yoichi side and observed his injuries.

_This isn't looking too good_

Yoichi had a big piece of wood stuck on his left side hip and was slowly bleeding out from his side. He was still conscious but he was very obviously in pain.

"Yoichi! Can you hear me?!"

"...Sh..Shinoa? Wha..What's happening?"

"Your hurt! We need to get you out of here! Can you walk?!"

"Al….Alright"

Shinoa tried to move him but he shouted in pain and Shinoa was forced to put him back down. Yoichi suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.

"It ...h-hurts..bad"

"Don't worry, it's just a flesh wound!"

"Is..Everyb-body...All r-right?"

"Don't worry, we can handle it"

Just as the words left her mouth, Yuichiro flew into the back of the barn and there was another familiar blond vampire was rushing towards him.

"Mika!"

Mika turned to look at the short girl calling him and felt a flash of anger towards her.

_I won't fall for your trick again, human!_

Shinoa tried to reach out but he just ran back to Yuichiro and picked him up in his arms and prepared to leave. Shinoa was forced to leave Yoichi and rushed to Mika, scythe in hand and pointed her weapon towards the vampire.

**11:59**

"Stop Mika"

"Don't get in my way, human"

"If Yuu goes, we go with him"

Mika's anger grew and he took out his sword in one hand while putting Yuichiro on his other.

"Sword, Drink my b-"

"G-Gekkōin!"

A green arrow suddenly came from right behind Shinoa and Mika was forced to duck down. Shinoa saw her chance and swung her scythe but Mika dropped Yuichiro and rolled away. Shinoa immediately got in front of Yuichiro and saw that he was knocked unconscious but was unharmed overall

**12:00**

As if on cue, A bright blue light illuminated the entire barn. The symbols began to glow and literally came off the walls and floated around the circle. The back of the barn glowed red and the smell that Mika had noticed was suddenly gone and was replaced with a massive gust of wind.

"What is going on?!"

4 floating symbols attached themselves on the four figures inside the barn. Suddenly, they were all floating with the other symbols and the back of the barn turned into an oval, revealing a dense forest with smoke rising in the background. Yuichiro and Yoichi were then thrown through the portal, Yoichi now unconscious due to his wounds.

"Yuu!"

"Yuu-san! Yoichi!"

The other two who were also floating were then also thrown through the portal and once they were through, the portal shut down and the last thing they saw was Kimizuki and Mitsuba rushing to the barn while calling their names.

(In the forest)

The forest was an excellent training ground for any newbie who wanted to test their skills against the numerous danger beasts that lay hidden deep within and out of the way of the village nearby. Outside of the forest was a small, local village. The village itself was nothing special, just another one in the tens of thousands that dotted the land but it was home to three small figures hunting inside the forest.

"Have you found anything yet?" A boy with short black hair yelled

"SHH" A girl with long, black hair angrily shushed him.

"Sorry Sayori but it's been hours and we haven't even found so much as a rabbit!"

"If you were to stop yelling so loud every five minutes, then we would have found something Ieyasu!" Sayori said

"It's not my fault! Tatsumi can't even hit them properly whenever we do find anything!"

"Speaking of which, where did he go now?!"

As soon as they mentioned his name, Tatsumi walked out of a thick bush with a bunch of very noticeable slashes on his sleeves and carrying two rabbits in his arms

"Hey guys" Tatsumi cheerfully said

"Where did you go? And how did you get two rabbits?" Sayori asked

"I found an area full of game and I think there was some deer too"

"Deer? Awesome! Special meal tonight!" Ieyasu cheered

"We could sell their hides too!"

"Alright then, lets go and hunt some deer!" Tatsumi said with determination

The three began to follow Tatsumi's trail, keeping their ears out for any prey that could come their way while making sure they were not too loud with Sayori taking point.

"Hey, Tatsumi" Ieyasu quietly call out

"What?" Tatsumi respond

"You wanna go to the capitol?"Ieyasu asked

"What?!" Tatsumi exclaimed

"You know, to get a better job or something" Ieyasu explained  
"How would a couple country boys even get a job in the capitol? We'd just get laughed at."Tatsumi said  
"Then let's be soldiers!" Ieyasu quietly but excitedly said

"Who's going to train us?" Tatsumi chortled

"Us! We can train by ourselves!" Ieyasu

"We don't even have weapons and even if we did, we won't even know how to swing one"Tatsumi said

"Uh, guys?" Sayori called out

Sayori had stopped walking and was looking at the clearing with confusion and concern in her eyes

"Yeah what's up?" Ieyasu said

The two boys walked up and saw what she was looking at. In place of all the animals were 4 figures on the clearing. One girl who appeared to be very young was attending to the injuries of a brown haired boy while a black haired boy appeared to be arguing with a blond boy wearing bright white clothes, contrasting the black uniforms the other 3 were wearing.

"Who are they?" Sayori asked

"I don't know. I've never seen that uniform or anybody with those clothing" Ieyasu observed

"We should go help them" Tatsumi decided

"No, we need to be careful" Sayori countered  
"They have someone injured with them, we need to help them" Tatsumi reasoned

"Tatsumi's right" Ieyasu said

Sayori sighed and nodded her head in agreement

The three slowly walked out and began to approach the mysterious people. At this point, the girl had noticed them and said something to them but they couldn't understand what she was saying.

"What?"

"Can you understand?"

**Shinoa POV**

Shinoa was completely caught off guard by the three children that were walking towards her. She was not expecting children in a forest this thick and especially in the clothing and equipment they had and were wearing.

"Help!"

The three didn't seem to understand what she said but she caught some words in English and realized that they probably didn't speak Japanese.

_What was help in english?!_

"uh, Help!"

Shinoa spoke in halting English and that seemed to get the attention of the children who immediately rushed to Yoichi and began to speak rapid english to her but Shinoa couldn't understand because of the speed. Finally, Yuu and Mika finally noticed the children and began talking to the children in better english about the situation. Shinoa noticed more defining features of the children that seemed off to her

_Those clothing, the weapons. Who would come to hunt in a forest by themselves without an adult as well? and they don't look like survivors..._

Her thoughts were interrupted when the children and Yui began to pick up Yoichi and place him on a makeshift stretcher and started carrying him out while Mika stayed far away from them but close enough to still be seen.

"Shinoa!" Yuu called her "They said they have a village nearby! Lets go!"

Shinoa walked in the back with the girl with long black hair while the boys ran back with the stretcher. The girl was very curious about Shinoa and began talking to her at a quick pace but Shinoa couldn't understand her quick pace so she just smiled and nodded while she thought to herself where they were.

_Just where did we go? And what was that thing that got us here?_

**And here starts my second story! Thanks to Darkbeast42 once more for giving me some tips to improve my writing. I plan on updating more soon but with exams coming up, my work will definitely paused for a bit before I can actually continue writing the next story. Be sure to leave a review and read my other work!**


	2. 2 weeks later

Where are we?

**Note: I am so sorry about getting Sayo's name wrong! Thank you Hyaenodon for correcting me. Now back to our story here!**

_Where am I?_

_Yoichi was very much lost. He felt like he knew this place from somewhere but his mind was coming up blank _

"_Actually, what happened?"_

_Yoichi scrambled into his mind, attempting to form some reason as to how he even got to this place, where ever this may be. His memories were foggy and for some reason, he couldn't remember anything from the last night or rather the night he remembers most recently_

"_Finally found you!"_

_Yoichi turned to see a flame like bird, with the colours on its skin mixing between green and black. He should be scared but this was an old comrade or rather, an old friend._

"_Gekkoin!"_

"_Hey kid, You know how hard it was finding you?!"_

"_Wait, find me? What happened while I was stuck here?"_

_The bird demon seemed surprised that Yoichi didn't actually know what happened_

"_How do you not remember?!"_

"_Remember what?"_

"_You should sit down for this"_

_Gekkoin turned into his human formed, albeit with much difficulty and Yoichi sat down in front of him._

"_Soooo, what happened?"_

"_You've been asleep for around 2 weeks now"_

"_What?!"_

_Time had been hard to tell for Yoichi but there was no way it had been two weeks. Or has it? Actually, how long has it been since he had been stuck here and where was here?!_

"_Looks like you really didn't know"_

_Yoichi suddenly began to feel a slight tingle and saw that the demon's aura had grown slightly from his confusion. Gathering his bearings, He clamped down on his feelings and began to ask away again._

"_What happened while I was asleep? What happened to my friends? Where did they go? Where am I again?"_

"_Sorry kid, can't help you. It was hard finding you and It's even harder staying here in this form"_

"_Wait, what do you mean? Are you hurt? Is someone keeping you prisoner"_

"_No and no but to answer one question, You're in a place where it's basically impossible to stay. The only reason I can even stay is because you brought me here"_

"_Then how come you're so weak here?"_

"_Because I'm connected back to my own realm" Yoichi opened his mouth but the demon shushed him quickly " Listen, I don't have much time. I came here to wake you up but let me lay down what happen. Can you listen without asking questions?"_

_Yoichi just nodded and the demon quickly laid down the situation he was in_

"_So my vessel belongs in the dimension you came from in the weapon but my power comes from somewhere else and needs to be adapted or else I'll be really weak. Once you brought me over with your friends, you were unconscious and the weapon was sheathed in. That meant I was basically asleep for awhile and was unable to adapt to the energy or rather power in this dimension until just now when I managed to get enough power to get back to you." _

"_So that means?"_

"_Okay, Currently, you shouldn't use me for sometime. There could be massive drawbacks if you do and I'm not sure what would happen but just give me a couple more weeks and I should be good, alright?"_

"_Uh, okay"_

"_Good, I can't stay much longer. I'm already fading but your friends should be waiting for you when you wake up alright?"_

_Yoichi opened his mouth to respond but the demon had disappeared and Yoichi himself began to fall back into darkness as his eyes began to close…._

**Outside**

_When is Yoichi going to wake up? _

It had been 2 weeks since Shinoa and her friends had been launched into this foreign land and things had been….different from what she had been expecting. The children themselves were quite friendly and the locals had been more than helpful but the land itself was quite strange. Plants she had never seen before, clothing she thought belonged to a much older era, and creatures resembling the horsemen but were smaller and different in general. Suffice to say, Shinoa couldn't be more confused, scared, and angry at the same time.

"What the hell did Guren sent us to get?"

"Uhh"

"Yoichi?!" Shinoa rushed over to his bedside and saw the boy was slowly waking up from sleep.

"Uhh, where am I?"

"It's alright, your safe now" She grabbed a glass of water from the table and slowly gave it to him. "Here, you need a small drink at least"

Yoichi slowly took the drink and looked somewhat confused and dazed. As if his eyes could see the things he was looking at but his brain didn't acknowledge it.

"Uh, so what happened?" Yoichi slowly asked

"Thats hard to explain. What do you remember?" Shinoa asked back

"I don't know. All I can remember was seeing firing Gekkoin and then falling asleep" Yoichi stammered out "Wh-what happen again?"

"Do you want to short version or the long one?"

"Uhhhh….."

Yoichi's brain was still so confused as to what was going on and even with Gekkoin's explanation, He still felt so off, like his body was not his body but someone elses and his mind was still back in his original body.

"Yoichi!"

Yoichi turned his head to see Yuichiro running to his bedside, the door still open and three children standing there with some kind of animal hide in their hands.

"Yuu-san!"

Yuichiro rushed to the bedside and Yoichi pulled him into a weak hug, the fog in his mind slowly clearing out.

"How are you feeling buddy?"

"Kind of confused but I think I feel good" Yoichi's eyes finally focused and the first thing he focused on were the children who has by this point, entered the house and were already putting away their prey and weapons and were quietly observing him and his friends.

"Oh yeah! They're the ones that helped us" Yuu turned to them and said something in english. The boys walked up naturally and seemed quite excited that Yoichi was awake while the girl walked slower and made sure the boys didn't overwhelm Yoichi with questions.

"Are you ok?"

"Do you also have a special weapon?"

"Can you do some tricks?"

"Are you Yuu's brother?"

The flurry questions were starting to make Yoichi's head hurt again and it didn't seem like the boys were going to stop at all. Yuu was no help as he was talking to Shinoa and wasn't paying any attention at that moment.

"Stop it, you two!"

The black haired girl had come up and shushed the two boys. Yoichi quickly breathed a sigh a relief and took a deep breath before introducing himself.

"My. name is. Yoichi"

The two boys were excited and almost began asking questions but the girl shooed them away and told them to do something because the boys quickly left the house with wooden sticks and the hides they had been carrying inside.

"Sorry about them, Mister" The girl said

"Uh, Its ok?"

Yoichi smiled at the girl and she quickly turned her head away, her face slightly red.

"Um, Your name?"

"Sayo"

"Thank you, Sayo"

Sayo turned to look at Yoichi smiling before rushing out the door, her face now a deep shade of red.

"What did you do now Yoichi?"

"Uh, I don't know. I just talked to her"

"Do you know, Shinoa?"

"Ahh, Yuu-san. You clearly know nothing about a girls heart. Then again, I wouldn't expect much from a cherry boy"

"Stop calling me that"

"So you aren't one?! Oh my gosh, Who was it?"

"Stop"

"Was it the girl who confessed to you?"

"Stop"

"Was it (Gasp for dramatic effect) The chief's daughter?"

"No way!"

The two bickered like old friends teasing each other over silly things that happen in class. Yoichi sat there and enjoyed watching the two argue while he tried to talk to Gekkoin and see if he could activate his Teigu to no avail. The demon was silent and Yoichi felt nothing whenever he tried to summon his bow.

"Hey Yoichi?"

"Uh yeah?"

"Want to come outside with us?"

"No, I'm going to sleep a bit more. I still feel bad"

"Don't worry then. Just rest for now, ok?"

"Ok"

Yuu and Shinoa got up and headed out the door, carrying a small bottle while Yoichi laid back on his bed and began to drift off. He suddenly remembered something though as he began to drift off, something he had forgotten to ask them.

"Where's Yuu's brother?"

**Mika's position**

The thirst had become unbearable. He was running on borrowed time and he knew that if he didn't drink blood now, then he wouldn't know where he would end up at. He made his way towards the exit of his hideout but someone familiar blocked him.

"Mika?"

The blond haired boy saw his brother standing in front of the door with the purple haired girl standing beside him. He suddenly felt a massive urge as he sensed the bottle of blood the girl was holding.

"Are you ok?"

"Fine. Thank you"

Mika immediately took the bottle from the girl and drank deeply from it. The blood slowly quenching his thirst and for the first time in a week, he could think clearly without his thirst blinding him. With his thirst finally satisfied, he got out of his hideout.

"Are you feeling better?" Shinoa asked

"Yeah"

"Sorry it took so long. Trying to hunt those Horse- I mean danger beast have been hard."

"Its fine Yuu"

The trio made their way back from the forest hideout made for Mika and were deep in their own thoughts as they made their way back to their temporary home.

"We can't stay here" Yuu suddenly said

"You mean here in the village or here as in the world?"

"Both. We don't belong here and I can't help but worry about how Kimizuki and the others are doing"

"Don't worry. They're smart and know what they're doing."

"If anything, they're probably better off than we are." Mika

"Yeah"

"Do you remember anything Mika? Maybe something from the vampire city"

"I don't know anything, human. If I did, I would have already told you"

"No need to talk to her like that Mika"

Mika shot an angry stare at the two before walking ahead the pair. Yuu just sighed, wondering how he could get Mika to stop being so judgemental of Shinoa

"I wish there was some way for Mika to stop hating Shinoa so that he can see how wonderful Shinoa-sama, is what your thinking"

"That's not what I was even close to thinking about"

"Ahhh, Yuu, you are way too easy to read sometimes"

The rest of the trip was filled with Shinoa relentlessly teasing Yuu while Mika watched from a distance, observing the relationship between the two and how they were reacting.

_Damn human. What does she want to do with Yuu anyways? I can't trust them, especially her_

A flash of pain made Mika stop for a moment and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground and the two humans were by his side, checking on him.

"What happen?!"

"Was something wrong with the blood"  
"I- I don't think so" Mika felt.. Odd. He didn't feel pain but rather, he could feel something else. Something alive inside of him.

"Can you walk?" Shinoa asked while extending her hand

"O-of course!" Mika got up and continued walking at a brisk pace, ignoring Shinoa's hand but this time, he did not slap it away.

"What the hell happened to him"

"Maybe the blood did something to him"

"What?! We need to stop him from drinking those beast blood then"

"Yuu, that isn't an option we can afford"

"But we have to do something! If its affecting Mika, then we don't know what it would so to him!"

"Knowing Mika and how much he's refused drinking our blood, he would definitely rather continue drinking that blood"

(Sigh) "Where the hell did we land ourselves?"

"I wish I could answer that"

The pair continued their walk back, both silent but both knew they were thinking of the exact same thing. The village came into view and soon, they were back in the small town.

"Yuu! Shinoa!" The two turned to see Tatsumi and Ieyasu carrying a sack each running to them.

"Hey guys! What's in the bag?"

"Tonight's dinner!" Ieyasu excitedly said "That Danger beast Yuu-san got netted us 10 gold aureus!"

"I never thought I would see this much money, much less in my own hands!"

"Are danger beast worth that much?"

"Of course!"

"It's not everyday somebody can kill a class one and still have it in almost perfect condition!"

"Heh, you hear that Shinoa?" Yuu puffed his chest out and was immensely proud of his 'achievement'.

"My, my, Yuu. Looks like you have a couple of fanboys. Is this your new fanclub now?"

"I never had a fanclub to begin with"

"Ah Yuu-san, there was a lot in school that you didn't notice and you still don't know"

"Hey what do you me-"

'Shinoa!" the pair stopped teasing and saw Sayo rushing towards the group with a worried expression on her face.

"Sayo!" Shinoa and the group walked up and Sayo collapsed into Shinoa's arms.

"Some- Something's wrong with Mika!"

"Mika?! Whats wrong with him" Yuu asked

"He, well, I don't know, He came back all woozy." Sayo explained "I wanted to help him but he told me to leave him. Next thing I knew, he had collapsed on the ground was running a fever!"

Sayo started to tear up and Tatsumi and Ieyasu comforted the girl while Shinoa and Tatsumi looked at each other in horror, now confirming what they had given Mika to drink was not safe. The real question lingered however, what was wrong with it and what was it doing to Mika?

**Here's the actual first chapter for this series. I think I'm starting to get the dialogue and the way the characters talk in this series correctly now. Also, check out my first real story on Fictionpress called "a promise" Which is under the same name as my account here. Stay awesome folks!**


	3. Its begun

Yoichi had already woken up and had put on Mika on it by the time Yuu and the group outside had returned. Yuu started checking up on Mika when he suddenly woke up, his fever disappearing.

"What the hell?" Mika muttered

"Mika!"

"Yuu?! What are you- Ow!"

"What's wrong?! Where does it hurt?"

"I'm fine, stop yelling" Rather than feeling almost nothing like usual, Mika felt…. Something.

_This is weird. I haven't felt like this in…. Years_

"Hey Mika? You alright? You keep on spacing out"

"I'm alright. Just a headache"

Mika got up and exited the small bedroom that served as their groups lodging in the home to see what the others were up to. Sayo was by Yoichi's side, who by this point had recovered well enough to be able to walk around and was cooking dinner with him while Shinoa was pouring over a map on the table.

"Mika, are you sure your good?"

"I'm fine, Yuu. In fact, I feel better than I have in a long time"

"Still-"

"Yuu, I'm fine. Besides, it was nothing too serious" Before Yuu could speak up again, Mika walked over to the table also began observing what was on the map.

_What the hell? How is this country so big?! It's almost 3 times the size of Japan and the main city in the center?! How can a CITY be bigger than a prefecture?!_

"I never thought a country this big still existed"

"That just proves that we are definitely in a different world then" The size of the country or rather as the children had been calling it, 'The empire' was massive and Shinoa had no idea where to even start looking for a place to start looking for a way out. _Damn it Gurren, when we get back, I'm going to pester you until you tell me what you sent us to get._

"Holy shit"

"You got that right" Shinoa chuckled a bit at Mika's reaction, remembering her own reaction when she looked at the map too.

"Do you know where we are?"

"Hmmmm" It took a moment before Shinoa remembered. "Here. It looked to be we're in the south side of the northern province"

Mika pondered for a moment, taking into account on their position and their surroundings. "Heh, where are we even supposed to start looking?"

"That's what I've been asking myself for the last couple hours" Without Gurren's guidance or anybody more experienced leading, Shinoa felt like a parent in an enemy countries with no plan or backup

_That's starting to sound more like me now_

"Woah! What the hell is this?!" Yuu suddenly yelled, Making Yoichi jump and spill some sauce over Sayo, earning him a dirty look from her. Judging by his reaction, he had also just looked at the map. "When did you even get this map anyways?"

"I asked Tatsumi and Ieyasu to pick one up for me a couple days ago" Shinoa started to fold back the map when she saw Yoichi and Sayo finishing up the final touches to the meal. "Besides, shouldn't you be helping the Mika?"

"I don't need anymore help. I feel better than I have in sometime"

"If suddenly collapsing means getting better, then we are definitely living in another world" Before Mika could actually respond, Yuu responded first.

"Mika, just get back in bed. We don't know what was affecting you or if it still is now. So please?"

"Ugh, Fine"

"Thanks!"

"Mika just waved his hand and closed the door behind him. Sayo, after making sure Yoichi could hold the dishes, went outside to get the two boys while Yoichi, Yuu, and Shinoa set the table.

"Woohoo! Finally get to eat some good food tonight!" Tatsumi cheered but Sayo shushed him and angrily pointed at the three older teenagers. "Itadakimasu" And with that, they all dug in.

"Hm! This tastes different but good! Did you make this Sayo?" Tatsumi asked  
"I had some help" Sayo happily answered.

"Awww," "how come you get help but we have to cook all the other meals?"

"Don't Yuu and Shinoa help you guys cook?"

"Yuu cooks but he just stands there and makes sure we don't burn or hurt ourselves" Tatsumi whined

"And the last time we asked Shinoa for help, sh-" Before Ieyasu could finish, everyone but Yoichi were shooting him panicked looks.

"Ara ara, Ieyasu?"

"Ye-yes?"

"Are you going to finish your story? Or are you going to eat?" Shinoa 'nicely' said

"Uh eat"

"Mhm, that's right"

Ieyasu quietly poked around his food while Tatsumi and Sayo quietly laughed at him.

"Hey Yoichi, I didn't know you could cook so well" Yuu said, quickly changing the subject and changing back to Japanese.

"Well, Kimizuki usually cooks everything so I just help him out when he needs it" Yoichi answered. "Besides, It was mostly Sayo cooking"

He caught Sayo staring at him again and she immediately put her down again but Shinoa saw this time.

"Ah Yuu, weren't you going to train the children?" Yuu had just put in a particularly large piece of food in his mouth and instantly began choking on it when Shinoa asked.

"What?! Wait, when did I even agree to training them?!" Yuu questioned.

"The second day we came here, remember?" Shinoa sighed hard at Yuu's confusion and decided to elaborate a bit more. "You said that you would help them with whatever they needed and they very clearly admire your skills so shouldn't you help train them?"

"I don't even know how to train them! Plus, Asuramaru still hasn't woken up yet!"

"Don't worry about it, you'll figure it out. Just teach them some basic moves and it'll be fine"

"Uhh, but I don't want to teach them"

"If you need help, then I can always help give them some advice if you need them?"

"Besides, it can't be that bad. They're probably better students than you are"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"  
"I think you know what I mean, mister perfect zero"

Yuu's face flushed red, remembering that damn test that she had flaunted to the entire class that day. "Then why don't you try training them?"

"Ah, Yuu. A leader isn't just about standing around and giving orders"

"Yeah? Like what?" Yuu accused

"Like planning and making sure wounded team members get the care they need"

"But we don't even have wounded members"

"Hmm, Mika looks awful to me. He probably needs me to nurse him" Shinoa sly said

Without anymore rebuttals or excuses, Yuu opted to just eat his food and sulk over it. Everyone had finished their food now and Shinoa motioned both Yuu and Yoichi to come into the room where they were staying in. The children didn't notice and continued whatever they liked to do. Inside the room, they saw Mika, now out of bed, sitting on the bed side with the map spread at his feet and on the ground.

"Now that we have everyone here, Let's start first with what we're going to do"

The three who were still standing sat on various objects and the meeting began.

"Let's lay out what we know about the area" Shinoa started. "Right now, we're here" She pointed at the village. "And the closest major city would be here" She pointed to a city that was to the left of the village they were living in. "Calium. From what I've managed to gather from the locals, a trip from here to there on foot will take at least a week. Our current mission is just to gather more information about this world and figure out a way to go home"

"Um, sorry to ask but are there some other path we can take?" Yoichi asked

"To be honest, we haven't done any scouting outside of the general area of the village. You were still unconscious and we didn't want to leave you alone here for too long" Shinoa said

"So far, Mika's the one who has been doing most of the scouting around and there really isn't a lot around here to notice of outside of a couple mountains." Yuu reported. Mika only nodded in confirmation and continued to stay quiet while continuing to observe the map

"Back to the subject at hand. The trip will take around 2 weeks for a full rounded trip on foot but since it's unknown territory for us, It could take longer" Shinoa recapped

"There's also the issue of the language barrier" Mika pointed at both Yoichi and Shinoa for this one. "You two stand out too much with your accents and your english is worse than anything I've heard."

"Hey Mika, you promised to not be so mean to them" Yuu complained

"No Yuu, he's got a point. Me and Shinoa can't understand English too well so it be better if we were to stay here" Yoichi said

"So that leaves Yuu and Mika"

"Alright-

"No" The room was silent for a moment before Mika said what he planned "I'm going alone"

Immediately Yuu and Shinoa gave their resounding answer at the same time.

"No!"

"Hell no!"

Mika didn't react but continued instead"It would be better if I make the trip by myself"

"NO! Going alone is more dangerous! What happens if someone decides to fight you?!" Yuu yelled

"Then I kill them" Mika said simply

The two opened their mouths to protest again but Mika spoke first. "I can travel a lot faster, I don't need rest, I can blend in with the crowd, and I can't die by their weapons and can still beat them if I have to."

Shinoa actually looked like she was contemplating the option but Yuu continued to argue with Mika, slowly raising his voice at the disbelief

"Something could go wrong! What if you run across a strong enemy or something?!"

"Then I'll just run away from them" Mika stated like it was a fact

"That's not what I- ergh ,um" Yuu looked around and managed to catch Yoichi's eyes. "Yoichi, help me on this!"

"Huh?! Uh, um," Yoichi only shrugged which only made Yuu more frustrated. He began pacing the room while Yoichi chuckled a bit.

Shinoa had been silent the entire time which filled Yuu with despair. "You don't agree with him, right Shinoa?"

Every part of Shinoa was in conflict. On one hand, she could see how much of a physical advantage Mika had and why going alone would be better for him but all her instincts that came from facing vampires in teams told her that there was safety in numbers.

_To think the day would come where I wished I get some advice from Gurren._

_No, wishing won't change anything. I'll have to gamble a bit here._

"He does have a point" Shinoa reluctantly answered

"What?!"

"It would be better if only one person goes and Mika can handle himself the best out of all us" Shinoa hesitantly said

"But we don't know what might happen if he goes alone! Something might happen and we won't know unless we come!"

"If you come with me, it'll just take more time and effort and that's not even mentioning the fact we need to find shelter for another person" Before Yuu could continue to argue, Mika pointed at Shinoa. "She understands so why don't you?"

"It's just too dangerous!"

"Yuu, We just don't have the resources to play it safe. We need to get back home as soon as possible!" Mika yelled

"But still!"

"Yuu, I think Shinoa's right" Yoichi stammered out

"Yoichi, not you too!"

"It's just, well, if there is an enemy that Mika can't handle, then I don't think having one more person is going to help that much"

Yuu looked at the group before him and knew that no matter how hard he protested, he would still be outnumbered. He deeply sighed before throwing his hands up in defeat. "Fine"

"Good! Then tomorrow, Mika will leave for Calium after we get the supplies he needs. We'll stay here and hold down the fort, everyone clear?" Shinoa made a point by staring directly at Yuu until he finally nodded.

"Good, then lets get some sleep. It's going to be a tough couple of days" With that, the group dispersed into their own separate bedding, with Yoichi sleeping on the only bed in the room and Shinoa and Yuu sleeping on a clump of blankets on the ground.

Mika, after taking one more look at the group, silently headed outside towards his hideout in the forest, all the while, checking his body constantly to see if there was anything different at all.

_None? No, I felt something. Something is inside me_

_Or am I changing?_

_No, no, there's no way. I should just focus on the task ahead and start getting some blood._

Banishing his thoughts, he continued to walk towards the mountains to collect the blood needed. Little did he know that he himself had begun changing once more and this time, it was by the fangs of his hated enemy but by nature itself.

* * *

Far away in the distance, plans were already being set in motion as a young woman with white hair and a green, robotic arm sat on a balcony overlooking an underground cavern.

"Miss Najenda!"

Najenda turned to see one of the few officers who had joined her in her escape walking towards her, a weird gauntlet on his left hand.

"Good to see you again, Lubboc"

The two embraced before Najenda offered Lubboc a seat at her table"I heard you were getting out of the hospital so I rushed back here"

"Don't you have other assignments you need to get too?"

"Nah, they've just been keeping me back until they can figure out what kind of division they should put me in"

"I see" Najenda looked at the strange equipment on his hand but this time Lubboc noticed.

"Heh, This is something they got for me"

"Is that a Shingu?"

"No, its a Teigu and its pretty awesome" Lubboc excitedly answered. "Can you guess what it does?"

Najenda pondered for a moment but just shrugged, knowing how different each Teigu's abilities were.

Suddenly, there were a series of strings surrounding the two. Then, Lubboc held out his hand and the chair he was sitting on fell apart and he was standing on thin strings that she could barely detect.

"So what do you think?"

"Can't say I'm not impressed" And Najenda meant it. She saw an opportunity with Lubboc's new Teigu and knew that she needed him now.

Lubboc released all strings around them and hopped down from the ones he was standing on before also releasing them as well.

"Heh, this isn't even close to what I can do. My trump card i-"

"Say, Lubboc" Najenda interupted. "Would you like to rejoin the fight with me?"

Caught off guard, Lubboc took a moment to respond. "Uh, of course! You know I would follow you to the ends of the earth!"

"Alright then! Lets go" Najenda got up and motioned Lubboc to join her.

"Wait, where are we going?!"

Najenda didn't stop walking and only gave a somewhat cryptic answer.

"To continue the fight"

**Sorry this chapter took so long! I've been busy with family coming over and I am having a bad case of writer's block with this series as the dialogue is just a pain to write.**

**Also, to clear up the timeline, I've set it so that it has been around a couple months after Najenda was attacked by Esdeath and lost her eye and arm. It's also around the time where Kurome joins the Elite Seven after that mission in the desert and when Liver is taken back to the capitol. Leave a review on how you feel about this and stay awesome!**


	4. Homeless

WIH chapter 4

"Come on!" Ieyasu yelled

"Could you maybe go easy on us?!" Tatsumi asked

It had been a week since Mika had left on his journey and ever since then, Tatsumi, after a lot of prodding from Shinoa, had begun training the boys while Yoichi began helping Sayo with the bow and the boys were making good progress. As for Mika, they had no way of telling what could have happened to him so all they could do was just wait.

"Get up! Your enemy won't give you time to get up! By now, both of your heads would have been chopped off!"

"This sucks!" Ieyasu complained "All you do is beat us up all day!"

"Its how I learned to fight and look how well I fight!"

Shinoa quietly chuckled from her position underneath a tree and watched as the boys got up and rushed once more towards the raven haired boy. After taking in the peaceful moments, she turned her attention once more at the map and the 2 packets of pills beside it and began asking herself the same questions she had been asking herself for the past hour.

_How do we get back home and where do we even start?_

_I have no idea where we are, what type of people we might come across, what enemy might come up, or even where we can find shelter or people we can trust! _Shinoa sighed and picked up one of the packets of pills she had on her when they had teleported to this new world. Each packet had around 15 pills, which only made the situation worse as now their trump card was in short supply and she had no way of replicating or finding anymore of the pills if they ran out, making their already bad situation even worse.

_And now that Shi-chan hasn't said a word to me and my scythe only gives me headaches whenever I try to use it . What the hell do we even look for?! No one saw what teleported us here and we don't know what or who did it! _

Shinoa leaned her head back against the tree and closed her eyes for a long moment, trying to come up with some semblance of a plan or even to remain composed.

_What would Guren do in a situation like this?_

"Shinooaa!" Her thoughts were broken when Tatsumi, all battered up, trudged towards her and dropped down in exhaustion when he was beside her.

"What happen? Weren't you training with -" Shinoa's voice trailed off when she saw Ieyasu on the ground again and Yuu standing with an almost bored expression.

_Ah, I see what happen_

"He keeps on beating us up and he says its training!" Tatsumi mocked "Can you please help us? I can barely lift my arms!" Shinoa, already

_I need to blow off some steam. A little exercise won't kill him since he seems so bored._

Shinoa innocently smiled at Tatsumi before getting up and taking the wooden sticks they had been using.

"Hm? Shinoa? What are you doing?"

"Well" The purpled haired girl tied her hair back into the familiar 2 knots and started stretching. "Tatsumi asked me for some help and it wouldn't hurt to practice a bit"

"Heh" Yuu confidently took an aggressive stance before holding his sword in front of him. "Then don't complain when you lose to me" He said with a smug expression.

Shinoa didn't respond to his comment and only offered an innocent smile before also getting into her own stance as the sky slowly darkened.

Ieyasu limped his way over to where Tatsumi was sitting and collapsed beside him.

"Who do you think will win?" Ieyasu asked.

"After getting our asses kicked for the entire week? Yuu, for sure" Tatsumi said without taking a moment to ponder. Ieyasu quickly nodded in agreement and focused his attention on the duel.

The two circled around each other, eyeing each other carefully like 2 alpha males facing off, both waiting for the other to make the first move as some dark clouds slowly covered the sun.

"Are you scared, Yuu?"

"What? Why?"

He ran up to Shinoa and quickly swung from his left in order to overpower her. Shinoa leaned back and without skipping a beat, took one step forward and knocked the sword out of his hand with a quick hit to his wrist and hit him hard on the chin, causing him to stumble back . Now off balance and disoriented , Yuu could do nothing but stumble back when Shinoa walked up to him with the same smile and knocked him down on his back with 2 simple kicks to a knee and the chest.

"I think I've won" Yuu looked up to see Shinoa's smug face and could only groan and put his head down in shame at the completely embarrassing defeat he had just suffered while Tatsumi and Ieyasu laughed at him. At this point, the sun had almost been fully covered by the clouds and Yuu only felt worse.

_How did I mess up this badly?_

The laughing stopped when Tatsumi suddenly stood up, his head looking in the direction of where the black cloud was. Ieyasu looked up to see Tatsumi with a confused look on his face

"Uh, What's wrong, Tatsumi?"

"... I see smoke"

at that moment, everything was quiet. Like sailors witnessing the calm before the storm, they knew what each other was thinking and hearing at the same time. A sudden breeze confirmed to everybody what Tatsumi saw as the smell of burning wood and bodies filled the air around them.

"...Help!" Everyone at the clearing turned to where the voice had come from. The sounds of crunching

It was Yoichi and Sayo. Yoichi had one arm over the little girl while the other covered his old stomach wound and was limping, his clothes ripped and the two had much soot over their exposed body parts and their clothes as they carried the bows they had earlier.

"Yoichi?" The boys immediately got up and helped Yoichi down while Sayo collapsed and put her head down. Shinoa opened Yoichi's shirt and saw the source of his pain. His old wound had torn open again and with every breath he took, more and blood came out. The only thing Shinoa and Yuu could do was press on it and hope it would stop.

Yuu looked back at Sayo with her head still down and gestured at the boys towards her. The boys nodded and they sat beside her as she began to quietly cry.

"Sayo, what happened?" She wiped her tears off and took a deep breath before answering.

"I, I don't know. We were training with our bows when we heard people being dragged made me go inside with him and we hid while some riders, I think ,were rounding up villagers to the center . The entire village was gathered there and one of them, he told us that this is a new base under some group and that we were to give them any boy who could lift a sword a, as payment to keep us safe. The villagers, they didn't want to so the riders, they took the ones who said no, and.."

"And?"

"I don't know because Yoichi covered my eyes. But I heard screaming. Next thing I knew, Yoichi grabbed me and made me go underneath the bed with him. Some people came in and took whatever we had before they left. Soon, there was smoke and we broke out through a window and we, we just ran. I don't know when but Yoichi, he had to stop but we could hear people all around us so I carried him here but…. The village"

Tatsumi and Ieyasu hugged the girl before she could continue while Yuu processed this new information. He turned back and could now see Shinoa holding down the wound with her shirt, shakely to stop the wound , her hands shaking with every movement and clearly panicking as shown in her eyes as with every moment, Yoichi's life ticked away

Despair and a feeling of hopelessness started to creep in. The peace they had enjoyed had been ripped away and this time, Yuu couldn't do anything.

* * *

_Mika, if you're still alive, please give us some good news_

"Where'd that blonde kid go?!" three men armed with small swords stalked the alley, one of them with a bleeding nose and all were furiously trying to find someone

"Spread out and find him!" The man with the bloody nose quietly walked down the dark street as his other two comrades split off, buildings surrounding the way like long arms trying to drag him into the dark.

He suddenly heard a fwump behind him and the next thing he knew, a blade had ran through his neck and he was down on the ground.

"Jackson? You good?" One of the dead man's comrades walked around the corner and before he knew it, a sword had ran through his chest and bled freely. He collapsed to the ground, looking one last time to see a boy with blinding white skin and crimson red eyes staring blankly back at him before his head dropped back down.

Mika sighed deeply before feeling a blade at his neck. "You just made the biggest mistake in your life, punk." The man was about to continued but before he could, Mika had grabbed his blade with his hand and broke it into 2 pieces. Stunned by the fact Mika didn't even seem fazed that his hand was bleeding and that someone could even do that, Mika punched the man in the gut, forcing him to double over into Mika's knee. The man stumbled back, dazed and confused and Mika took his blade and drove it hard into skull. He fell to the ground with a thud, his eyes still wide open in shock.

Mika dropped the piece of blade he was holding and looted the bodies. After finding what he wanted, he silently walked back into the shadows of the alley way. After confirming no one was nearby, he jumped up and began climbing up the walls before reaching a loose part of a wooden wall.

He yanked out the wood board before entering into a small , rundown room that was littered with maps, drawn pictures, books, and other pieces of paper. Before he put the wooden board back, he looked outside one more time, his eyes scanning the area like a hawk before finally putting the board back.

_That was strange. I was sure someone was there just now._

He took one last look back before taking out the sacks of money and a bag of papers. He checked the money inside before tossing it into a small crate filled with money before taking a seat at the crate to check the papers he had just found.

_Hm, as I thought. If this is true…_

Mika started shuffling around some of the papers before finding what he wanted. He got out a small notebook and a pencil and quickly wrote down what he had just learned from the papers he had stolen or rather stolen from.

_So there are other groups who fight this "Empire". It's best if we avoid making too much contact with them. I did take these papers from them after all._

As Mika continued to write down everything he had learned, a pair of amber eyes revealed themselves from the darkness of the alley as they watched the light escaping between the boards.

* * *

**Authors note**

**That took some time to write! The story is definitely going to pick up steam now that I've got what I wanted out of the way. Also, I will be going on Hiatus until September so I won't release another chapter until late September or early October depending on the speed of my writing. Stay awesome **


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